True, there are 36 more games to go, and no one connected with an organisation chaired by Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister under investigation for corruption, should feel entirely comfortable about the future. But Manchester City fans can savour this moment: this morning they are joint top of the Premiership (behind Everton on goal difference, as pedants like to point out, but level on points, which is what really matters). On Wednesday night they scored their first home league goal since New Year's Day. They have played three hours of football without conceding a goal. And they are now 10 places higher than that other Manchester club, whom they can now look forward to meeting this weekend. What is more, this feat has been achieved by a team packed with new signings, some made by City's new manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, without ever having seen the player in live action. Given some of the traumas of his time as England coach, he must fear that it is going to be said on the terraces that he may be a better judge of players he has not watched than of those he has. What a contrast all this makes with last season, when City's so-called attack notched up only 29 goals in 38 games - a performance that served as a weekly reminder, if one were necessary, that Manchester City is an anagram of synthetic cream. If present trends continue, can there be any doubt that a week or two from now the City of Manchester stadium will be ringing to lusty chants of "There's only one Shinawatra"?

· This article was amended on Friday August 31 2007. Thaksin Shinawatra is not, as we said in the above leader item, the former president of Thailand but the former prime minister. This has been corrected.